[amrul]

Originally Posted by apr

So anyway. There's a radical theory about Ghost Banri that's been mentioned in the 2ch Golden Time novel threads, after a particular scene in volume 7.

Spoiler for Vol 7 stuff:

At one point, Banri asks for Chinami's help to make a video record of his very short 'life' in case he was to vanish, should old Banri reemerge. When the camera starts rolling, and Banri begins to tell his story, he uses the exact same words as written on the first pages of the first novel, pages told from Ghost Banri's point of view! What this means is debated, but one theory is that Ghost Banri never existed, and that the whole series so far has just been a playback of new Banri's video recording.

In other words, it would mean that Ghost Banri is just a narrative device for new Banri to put a more objective perspective on everything he's gone through, or a way for him to emote his sense of pressure from the past. A past he's now basically addressing with his story.

Anyway, whether it's true or not is impossible to say at this point, but it certainly blew my mind when I read the book. Still, I wouldn't say it's the most likely theory.

It would be very, very, very interesting if it turns out that way.

By the way, do you have any idea whose thought it is at the prologue of the seventh volume? From the way it's addressing the speaker, it seems to be a girl (the boys in the novel use 'ore'). I don't know if it's just my limited Japanese skill or the writing itself is too deep, but I still don't get a hint of it.